Harry Uzumaki & the 9 Tailed Fox
by Snowy Mountain
Summary: The Boy Who Lived is found and adopted by Naruto Uzumaki as a child and raised to be a ninja! How will the Wizarding World be changed by the first ninja-wizard?
1. Fathers and Sons

**Preface:** _Harry Potter_ belongs to J.K. Rowling. _Naruto_ is by Masashi Kishimoto.

**4/12/10 Update:** Minor revisions and corrections.

* * *

**Harry Uzumaki & the 9-Tailed Fox**

Prologue: _Fathers and Sons_

* * *

_The world has really gone to crap,_ he decided grimly as he strolled down the street, wincing every now and then at the atrocious sounds and wrinkling his nose when he detected some new horrible stench.

He had no idea of just how long he had been asleep this time but it was clear that at least a decade or more had passed. He couldn't really be too sure. Humans were advancing rather rapidly these days. It wasn't like this back in the good old days. Things hadn't improved too much though. _Pity._

Humans had grown and evolved, adapting and changing, and ultimately taming their environment. And with that mastery, they had become arrogant in their own power. They poisoned the air, the earth, and the very water now. God only knew what they were doing to their bodies too.

It was inevitable that humans altered the environment by just breathing, but a lot of humans seemed to believe that somehow the planet would magically turn back into an unspoiled paradise after they were done with it. The world was dying and they didn't seem to realize. Or care. He felt an overpowering urge to go and smack some sense into some of them. He wondered if this was what the Fox had felt all those centuries ago. This overwhelming contempt for humanity. He wondered briefly if this was simply a result of cynicism due to his advanced age ... or something else passed on by the damn Fox.

Once upon time, he had been a proud ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village, condemned shortly after his birth to become the Living Container of the most powerful Demon Beast of them all; the Nine Tailed Fox.

From his very childhood, he had been beaten, starved, and ignored by a population that hated him. And he had no idea why. What crime he had committed unknowingly to have such contemptuous hatred and disgust directed at him? For over a decade, he assumed that it was because he was an orphan and a troublemaker. It wouldn't be until he was 12 when he discovered the secret that everyone had kept from him, but it would be years later before he discovered the truth of his parentage, that his own father had chosen him for this 'honor'.

He had risen through the ranks, determined to show them all how wrong they were. That he was better than they realized. And he had. He earned their trust, their respect, their friendship, and finally even their highest honors, succeeding to the rank of Hokage and leading Konoha for almost a century. He discovered that the enormous healing abilities that the Fox had gifted him with had also made him damn near immortal. He had been bored out of his skull for almost half a decade before a suitable replacement had emerged from the Jounin ranks and he decided to retire and left to wander.

He spent the next few decades moving from place to place, never really settling down when he felt compelled to create a cavern and fell asleep. He found himself in his mindscape confronting the Demon Fox. He was rather shocked to see the frail and decrepit creature that had once been the most feared Demon Beast of them all. The wheezing fox informed him that their mergence was finally complete; cursing him and his father for his damnable seal that had brought this ignoble end to him. He listened as the creature ranted and raved for several minutes before the fox collapsed, his breath rattling and choking and faded away, passing on and leaving him with his chakra reservoir.

Naruto awoke to find that apparently several centuries had passed during his nap. He found it slightly irritating that he would have to enter this form of suspended animation every now and then. It could last for a decade or a century. Yet another one of the many changes that the fox's chakra had done to him. It made the whiskers that had plagued him for his early childhood look damn tame in comparison. His enhanced senses were one of the beneficial side effects. He also needed a permanent Henge to pass for human too, these days.

His ear twitched as he heard someone shouting. "Get the freak!"

He scowled, checking an instinctive desire to seize one of his concealed kunai. He found a group of boys—kids really, beating another one curled up in a fetal ball on the ground.

He bared his teeth snarling and in flash, he crossed the distance and grabbed two of them by their collars and flung them aside. They arced through the air and landed heavily on the ground. The third and by far, the largest and widest boy whirled, surprised. Naruto smirked as they locked eyes and his irises shifted to a dark red and the pupils into a slit-like shape as he unleashed a low-level genjutsu that Kurenai Sensei tried to teach him when he was 15 or so. It simulated a short burst of killing intent directed solely at the victim but was fairly worthless in combat situations.

It was simply a blast of pure undirected fear. It was enough to give someone a panic attack but any sufficiently disciplined or experienced person could ignore the effects.

The boy, Dudley Dursley, if Naruto read his memory right, had no such training or discipline. He shrieked and turned white before fainting on the ground with a heavy thud that seemed to shake the earth briefly.

Naruto snorted and his eyes changed back to their normal appearance as he looked down at the thin and scrawny boy who was hesitantly uncurling himself and looking around confused. Naruto growled as he saw the instinctive cringing and wary look on the boy. He remembered how he had looked as a kid. Beaten. Starved. Ignored. Scared. This kid had the same damn look as he looked up him, wondering if he was some new tormentor.

He forced a smile on his face and crouched down. "Hey kid. You wanna come with me? Get something to eat? My treat."

Harry Potter stared at the smiling man with wild blond hair and smiled hesitantly. He knew that everyone at school told him never to go anywhere with strangers but this man seemed rather nice. Nicer than his Cousin, Aunt, and Uncle at least. Finally he asked, "Are you a stranger?"

That seemed to amuse the blonde man whose smile widened even further, "Nah, I'm just weird, kid."

Harry considered that. No one ever said anything about weird people. "Oh, OK," he said with a shrug as he followed the weird man.

* * *

Vernon and Petunia Dursley were furious after their darling boy told them how some adult had picked on him and his friends and waited for the freak boy to return home to punish him appropriately.

But he never did.

Vernon suspected that the boy had run off. Petunia wondered if the adult was some sort of criminal who liked little boys and was thankful that apparently his perverted tastes didn't run towards boys like her little Duddykins. Dudley was disappointed that he no longer had anybody he could pick on.

Arabella Figg didn't realize that Harry Potter was missing either at first. But after a week with no sign of the boy, she sent a message expressing her concerns to Albus Dumbledore.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore; Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Grand Sorcerer was a very busy man with his numerous titles.

And he had received numerous other messages from Figg, urging action about the boy's treatment at the hands of the Dursleys. He decided that this was yet another one of her overly hysterical and imaginary concerns although he did do a quick check of the various instruments monitoring the boy.

All of them were working perfectly and none of them indicated that Harry Potter was anything but healthy. Assured that everything was fine, he put it out of his mind completely until about a week later when the various instruments alerted him that the wards around Privet Drive were faltering.

He was shocked as the various indicators stopped working completely and the wards collapsed. Albus finally realized that something was wrong but by that time, it was far too late to do anything.

Harry Potter was gone.


	2. Training

**4/12/10:** Minor revisions and corrections.

* * *

**Harry Uzumaki & the 9-Tailed Fox**

Chapter 1: _Training_

* * *

"What kind of backwater place doesn't even serve ramen?" Naruto muttered as he nursed a glass of water as he watched the far too thin boy devouring his hamburger with gusto. "Slow down kid or you'll choke," he warned.

The boy gulped and then took a smaller bite and chewed a few times before swallowing.

"Better," Naruto said with an approvingly nod as the boy took another bite, chewing slower this time.

"If I don't eat fast then Dudley would help himself to my food," the kid explained around his mouthful of food before swallowing.

Naruto frowned, thinking maybe he should have used a bit more scarier genjutsu on the not-so-little brat. "So what's your name? I can't just keep calling you kid."

The kid swallowed his last mouthful and said, "Harry. Harry Potter."

"Well hi there Harry Potter, I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

It took a little coaxing but Harry enthusiastically began to open up, telling Naruto about his mother and father dying in a car accident and how he ended up with his aunt and uncle's home. Naruto suspected that no one had ever bothered to do so before so the kid was pathetically eager to have someone listen to him. He twitched hearing how the kid was living in a cupboard of all places. He thought his life was tough. Damn, he never realized just how much the Old Man had managed to look after him…

Harry managed to finish his hamburger and polished off another one as he related his past history. After he finished, he twiddled his fingers, "Why are you helping me?" Harry asked softly. "No one ever has before…"

Naruto interlaced his fingers together. "Probably because you remind me of myself when I was your age."

Harry's head shot up at that.

Naruto smiled at him. "Yeah. I was orphaned as a kid too. I grew up in an orphanage though. But I was pretty much beaten, ignored, neglected, and starved by people who thought I was trash. That I _**deserved**_ what happened to me," and his cool mask slipped and he felt the centuries old anger infusing his voice.

"Yeah…" Harry croaked, tears in his eyes.

_Damn it. The kid was getting all depressed again._ Apparently Harry had decided to just suck it up and keep his head down whereas Naruto had gone to the opposite route to get people to pay attention to him. Basically, because they didn't dare not to. Who knows what kind of horrors that he would have unleashed otherwise? He heard that a number of the ANBU began cursing his name whenever someone reminded them about the Fertilizer Incident. Including Kakashi Sensei.

He had to do something. Naruto sighed as he stared at the kid. No. No way. There was no way he could do this. It was insane. It was idiotic. It was crazy. It was stupid. He could just hear Sakura lecturing him about the utter foolishness of this. He paused.

Nah, she'd just whack him on the head and scream 'Naruto No Baka'. He grinned as he stroked his chin. _Well, it would hardly be the first insane, idiotic, crazy, stupid, and foolish thing that I've done. Why break my streak now?_

* * *

Convincing the boy to leave with him had been shockingly easy. Naruto suspected that Harry had been glossing over some of the worst parts of his life with the Dursleys. One of these days, he reminded himself to pay a little visit to the assholes, but he figured if anyone deserved to do that, Harry had the better claim to it.

He shook off his musings as they entered a bramble. Naruto checked the area with his senses and a quick chakra pulse. No witnesses around. He looked at Harry intently. He rather wouldn't do this. It just might scare the kid back into the loving arms of his relatives but after all of the things that everybody had kept from him, he disliked keeping secrets. He began by giving a brief synopsis of his past. He saw the disbelief in the kid's eyes. He grinned. _Well, this could be funny._ He brought his hands together and dispelled his Transformation Henge.

* * *

**BOOM!**

Harry yelped as Naruto exploded. There was a cloud of smoke and Harry stared at the large quadruped that was now standing there. It was like Naruto had explained, a fox. Although he had never seen one with golden fur that glowed, nor one with nine tails that swayed and waved in the air. Then he saw the eyes. They were the same brilliant shade of blue that Naruto had. The fox stared at him for a moment and then there was another boom and a cloud of smoke and Naruto, well, the human version of him was standing there brushing out his trenchcoat.

"Wha—wha—" Harry stammered, imitating a goldfish.

"Told you," Naruto said mischievously.

Harry shakily pointed a finger at Naruto. "You—your ears!"

Naruto blinked and pulled a small mirror out of his pocket and checked his reflection. "Oh yeah. Damn, they keep popping out," he muttered as he saw the fox-like ears sticking up on the sides of his head. Again. His whisker tattoos were back as well. He closed his eyes and concentrated and his features blurred as they shifted to a more normal appearance. He flashed a wicked grin at the pale boy, "Better?" he asked lightly.

Harry's legs failed him and he dropped to the ground. "Are—are you going to eat me or something?" he asked wondering if those stories that his aunt told him that someday, something horrible would happen to him was finally going to come true.

"Oh trust me, I don't do those sorts of things, besides I doubt you taste very good anyways. Too many hamburgers."

Harry frowned as he tried to work that out. He wasn't sure if he should be relieved. Or insulted. Or maybe both.

* * *

Surprisingly enough, Harry quickly accepted Naruto's … physical differences. It could have to do with Harry's youth that made him so mentally flexible. But Naruto suspected that after dealing with 'normal' people like the Dursleys who had such rampant abhorrence and intolerance of any oddity, weirdness, or strangeness, Harry had developed an absolute gleeful fascination with those qualities just because they had had been forbidden as a form of rebellion.

Harry loved watching Naruto perform his various jutsus, even the simpler and not particularly flashy ones. It was amusing that he was using his hard won battle skills for entertainment instead for their original lethal purpose.

He had yet to hear any announcements or news bulletins about Harry's absence but Naruto didn't want to take a chance so they quickly left England and were traveling rapidly across the European continent. No legal authorities or police officers stopped them or noticed them. So far, at least.

For that reason, Naruto had dipped into his array of jutsus and tried applying some of the medical ones to Harry. He didn't have very many of them as he wasn't a medic nin but thanks to Granny Tsunade and also Sakura and Hinata, he had picked up more than just the simple first aid ones.

Mainly, what he had wanted to do was get rid of Harry's forehead scar as he felt that was probably the most distinctive and vivid feature that anyone would notice and remember. For some reason though, Naruto could not fix it. Something about the injury resisted any and all attempts at healing it. Naruto could swear that it felt … _**off**_to him. He really needed a trained medic nin to take a look at it. _Not that there were any medic nins left… _he scowled, in frustration.

To make sure that it wasn't him, he tried using the medical jutsus to repair the other damages and injuries that Harry had acquired from his years of neglect and abuse at the hands of the Dursleys and they all worked perfectly. He had been able to remove or reduce all of the other scar tissue as well as making sure that Harry's bones were fully repaired and strengthened. The kid wasn't going to be stunted anymore, in fact he was already an inch and a half taller and looked like he was going into a growth spurt. Of course, that also could be because he was actually eating regularly now.

Naruto found that he could pull off some amazing healing tricks without relying on the delicately fine, surgically sensitive chakra control ones or the hideously complex techniques. Instead, he just used the most basic, idiot-proof (as Sakura had once called them) ones that he cranked up geometrically with his enormous chakra reservoir. But it had taken just about all of them, plus some half-forgotten scraps of medical knowledge he had dredged up to repair all of the damage Harry had sustained.

What Harry was most pleased about, was that he no longer needed to wear glasses. Thanks to the Dursleys, Harry's eyesight had been a lot weaker (he would still have had to wear corrective lenses regardless) but he had been left practically blind without his glasses. No longer.

Instead he now had visual acuity approaching the 20/10 range. Naruto had been able to tweak things a bit because his knowledge about ocular functions was a bit broader than the rest of his medical techniques thanks to his training to deal with the inherent flaws of the Sharingan.

And so, five months quickly passed…

* * *

Harry woke up in the lightening darkness. He lay there for a moment, staring up at the ceiling and wondering why it was so high before he realized that he was no longer in his cupboard. It had been five months since he had left the Dursleys but the memories of that horrid time still lingered and crept up surprisingly on him at times.

He smiled and sat up, relieved that he would never have to lay in that cupboard again and threw off the covers and quickly dressed.

Thanks to Naruto's non-existent status, he couldn't very well enroll Harry in school as they would ask for records that Naruto couldn't give them. Naruto had tried, using his genjutsu skills but that only worked in person. Harry had managed to last almost two weeks before the school office called him in saying that they had lost his records and that Naruto needed to fill in a new set. Naruto had been forced to use his genjutsu to give them an illusion that he had been transferred suddenly and they quickly and quietly left the area.

Harry was "home schooling" himself until Naruto could figure something out. But he had his doubts. Naruto could infiltrate just about anywhere, even Buckingham Palace if he really wanted to, thanks to his ninja skills; but creating a paper trail was a bit beyond his ability.

So the human-kitsune hybrid was forced to face his worst nightmare. He was having to study like he was back in school again. But instead of ninja arts, he was cramming modern computers this time in the hopes that he could try to insert the records electronically.

But it wasn't going too well.

Last time Harry had checked, Naruto was still struggling to find the power switch which did not engender Harry's confidence. Plus, when Naruto got frustrated, he tended to forget to "limit" his enhanced strength and he had destroyed five computer keyboards when he had accidentally hit some of the keys too hard.

Despite that, Harry found that he was actually getting pretty good grades as he no longer had to do worse than Dudley. He had a surprising grasp for mathematics, although he was only so-so in sciences and foreign languages. He found that he rather enjoyed reading, particularly fantasy novels. That was something that the Dursleys flat out rejected for some reason; claiming it was all fluff headed nonsense. Whatever.

But his newfound appetite for reading also gave him new hiding spaces as he flipped open one of his books and extracted the shuriken that he had concealed inside. He quickly sorted through the other books to find the other hidden shurikens as well.

He had picked up a few discarded ones during one of Naruto's demonstrations of his ninja skills and had quickly pocketed them.

Exiting his room, he left their dwelling and headed out into the woods for a little practice throwing.

He eyed his target, a large tree and gripped the shuriken and winced felt the sharpened edges slicing thin cuts in his fingers. He stuck them in his mouth and sucked them. After a few minutes he tried again, although he held the shuriken a bit more gently. _Right, that was better._

He sighted and hurled small four bladed disk at the target. It spun lazily through the air and landed on the ground and bounced twice. _Hmph. This was slightly trickier than it looked,_ Harry pouted as he took out another shuriken and took aim once more. _Let's try that again…_

* * *

Another month whizzed by and Harry found himself celebrating his seventh birthday already. He was taken aback to find that Naruto had decorated the house with streamers and had several wrapped presents for him.

After staring at the presents for a long time, Harry had begun carefully unwrapping them to reuse the paper only to have Naruto urge him to rip it open. Harry whooped delighted as he tore the paper and threw it into the air much as he had seen Dudley do it. He had never been able to do that at his own presents as Aunt Petunia told him not to waste valuable wrapping paper, if they even remembered his birthday at all. Which they usually didn't.

His loot included quite a few books and video games but the last thing was a set of dulled shurikens and blunted kunai. He looked at Naruto who smirked and Harry belatedly realized that the hybrid human-kitsune had been well aware of Harry's training exercises.

Naruto proclaimed that he was going to start training Harry in the various ninja arts as it was safer than letting Harry go off and possibly injure himself on his own. However the malicious smirk that Naruto had given him didn't do much for his peace of mind.

* * *

Harry panted as he jogged through the woods. Naruto had warned him that the training was tough and it wasn't going to be fun but Harry hadn't really understood. Now as his lungs were gasping for air and just about every single muscle in his entire body was burning, he believed his adopted father had gravely underestimated it. Harry could swear that even his hair was screaming in pain.

He gulped as he approached the ravine and leaped off into space, barely landing on the other side, stumbling although he hadn't fallen down this time. A month ago, he wouldn't even clear it. He grunted and blinked the sweat out of his eyes as he saw the clearing and pounded into it and bent over, his arms on his trembling legs and wheezed.

Naruto tsked and consulted his stopwatch. "You barely managed to shave thirty seconds off your best time."

Harry didn't respond even though he really wanted to. Quite frankly, he couldn't spare the breath. Instead, he lowered himself into a martial stance and began slowly stretching into his cool down exercise set. With each exhalation, he felt himself drawing more and more upon his internal energies, his "chakra" as Naruto called it. He could feel it flooding his system, relieving his aching muscles and restoring his expended strength.

He opened his eyes and looked at Naruto and nodded. "How long?" he asked.

Naruto took a glance at the stopwatch again and shrugged, "Eh. About the same as last time."

Harry grimaced, "I could swear I'm getting better at recharging myself."

"Normally at your age, students could revitalize themselves while they were the middle of running. I mean, it's not like an enemy is going to let you come to a stop and meditate to gather your chakra to restore your depleted reserves."

"I'm getting faster!" Harry protested, even he knew it was true.

Naruto nodded agreement, "You're getting used to channeling your chakra. Plus you've started a trifle later than most academy students. But if you think this is tough, then just wait until you have to start chakra channeling while in the midst of fighting for your life. Trying to meditate while someone is trying to kill you is pretty distracting. That's what weeded most of the students out from being Genins."

Harry grumbled. "What now? Sparring?" he asked.

"Nah, let's skip it today," Naruto said, "I wanna see how your _**Henge**_ is coming."

Harry nodded and began breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth as he began to gather his energies once more. He felt his chakra flare and he flew through the hand seals. _Dog, Boar, Tiger!_ _**"Henge!"**_ he barked out and he heard the distinctive boom and the cloud of smoke surrounding him. He smirked at Naruto who looked him up and down critically at his doppleganger.

Naruto grinned rakishly, "Damn, I'm handsome," he praised Harry and posed as if in front of a mirror and ran a hand through his hair.

Harry gave a nod and dispelled the Transformation Henge, changing from his Naruto imitation back to his own regular appearance.

"How long can you maintain it now?"

"About four minutes," Harry reported.

Naruto gave a nod, "Work on your meditation exercises. You have to hold it longer for it to be effective. Next week, I'm going to see how well you can Henge into other people that you aren't familiar with. Now, let's see your _**Bushin**_…"

* * *

Harry panted as he wiped the sweat out of his eye and studied the badly scarred tree trunk with dozens upon dozens of shurikens embedded in it.

_Definitely an improvement,_ he grinned as he remembered his earliest target throwing attempts.

"…_nothing to eat around here…no food…"_

Harry jerked and whipped his head around as he heard someone muttering to themselves.

"…_too cold, too cold…" _the voice continued griping.

"Who's there?" Harry called out, fingering a shuriken.

"_Aaah! A human! Get away! Get away!"_

_Human? _Harry wildly looked around and suddenly saw a small snake moving as rapidly as it could away into the tall grasses. "Was that you speaking?" he blurted out, a split second before realizing that was an incredibly stupid thing to say when the snake abruptly stopped and curved backwards. Huh. Maybe not so stupid after all as the snake appeared puzzled, cocking it's head as it stared at Harry in clear bafflement.

"_Did you speak to me human?"_ the snake hissed, it's tongue flicking out of it's mouth.

Harry swallowed. _Holy shit._ "Yeah, I did."

"_You are a Speaker…"_ the snake seemed startled. _"It is said that there were once humans who possessed the Gift of Tongues but I always thought it was legend…"_

Harry thought furiously. A talking snake. That reminded him of a couple of stories that Naruto had told him about this creepy freak, Orochimaru that he had fought as a kid. He wondered if this snake was somehow descended from one of his summoned snake creatures…

* * *

"No. The Summons don't actually live in this world, but another time and place. The Contracts that they have is what ties them to this world and a Contracted Summoner," Naruto explained.

"Oh."

Naruto continued thoughtfully, "So if it's not the snake … then it must be you."

Harry stared at him, "ME?"

Naruto gave a shrug, "The snake did say that it heard legends about Talkers."

"Speakers," Harry corrected absently.

"Right. Whatever," Naruto said dismissively. "It could be you're a Speaker."

Harry frowned. _Could that be why the Dursleys were so horrible to him? Was it because that he possessed this gift? That might explain why they always called me a freak. I wonder if this means that one of my parents had it too…_

"Have you talked to any other animals? Heard them speaking?"

"Uh … no, but it's not like I've had a lot of exposure to animals. I mean birds, dogs, and cats but that's about it."

"Right. Then maybe it's just snakes then…" Naruto muttered, "Time for a little field trip."

* * *

Harry managed to confirm that he could only hear and speak to snakes after a few visits to several zoos and pet shops. Naruto reported that Harry was actually _hissing_ when he was talking to the snakes even though he was sure that he was speaking English. Weird. Naruto and Harry speculated that perhaps if he was a Snake Speaker, then perhaps there were other Speakers for some of the other animal species.

It certainly brought up some interesting questions. Harry wondered if he would ever be able to answer them.

* * *

**A/N: **In case anyone was wondering, Harry was 6 years old when he first met and was adopted by Naruto and Naruto's true form is now that of a very large golden fox with nine tails, bigger than even a Great Dane or an Irish Wolfhound.

Because of his kitsune nature, he has shapeshifting abilities and thus he takes on a human form simply as a matter of habit and so he can blend in better with humans. My mental image of Naruto is that he looks like an older version of himself say like in his late twenties, early thirties. Sort of like the Fourth Hokage, only with shorter hair.

However when he is distracted or startled, certain elements of his kitsune nature may pop out. His facial whiskers and his fox-like ears are an example.

And yes, I do have plans for Harry to attend Hogwarts. However, he will be significantly different than Rowling's version. Naruto will be solely Harry's Sensei in the ninja arts so he will have to attend Hogwarts to learn how to control and use his magical gifts.

Oh and "perfect" eyesight is considered 20/20 vision; that just means that is considered the optimal vision for people. Harry's 20/10 is actually better than average, which means that he can see farther and much sharper than most people.


	3. The Mysterious Power

**Preface: **T3Ko asked a question; _I was wondering how Naruto couldn't sign Harry in. You said that he was bad at 'paperwork'. He was Hokage and lead Konoha for almost a CENTURY. He should have learned something that time._

I didn't say that Naruto couldn't sign Harry in. What I was saying was that Naruto is not familiar with modern day technology such as computers. Basically he could create an genjutsu (illusion) that had Harry's paperwork all filled out for the workers, but he can't create the paperwork on his own. They were just looking at a blank screen and thought it was all correct. Naruto couldn't create an electronic "paper trail" as it were. That's why he started trying to learn about computers.

Hope that answers his question or anyone else who was wondering the same thing. If anyone else has any questions, feel free to submit them. And now, on with the story!

* * *

**Harry Uzumaki & the 9-Tailed Fox**

Chapter 2: _The Mysterious Power_

* * *

Harry wobbled on the thin and slender beam several feet above the ground as he inched forward. "Don't look down!" Naruto urged helpfully from the ground several feet beneath him.

"Is this really training?" Harry demanded as he lurched as he slid forward another foot.

Before today, he had been rather confident of his sense of balance. After all, he had done this exercise walking backwards and even blindfolded several times. But he had also been standing on a thick beam that didn't bend or flex. Today, Naruto had swapped it out for this pole that bent under his weight and he was feeling like he was back at the beginning of his balance training. Unlike then, he wasn't a foot above the ground.

"Foolish boy! You dare question me?" Naruto demanded in a pompous tone of voice, puffing out of his cheeks in a remarkable mimickry of a martial arts movie master that they had seen last week.

"It's crossed my mind," Harry muttered as he fought to maintain his balance. _More than a few times too,_ his inner voice muttered rebelliously.

"Fear is just another emotion. You feel hot, you feel hungry, you feel afraid. Fear can't kill you! Master your mind and you can master your body!"

"Oh, you so stole that from that movie last week!" Harry shot back.

Naruto scratched his head. "Really? Well, it still sounds pretty good even if the movie was only so-so. But the basic idea applies."

Harry sweated as he continued to wobble along. _Walking on solid ground was not difficult, therefore it shouldn't be any more difficult when you're 12 feet above it right? Right. _Now if only his brain could grasp that little sticking point then everything would be hunky-dory. Then his foot slipped.

Harry tumbled through the air and saw the ground rushing up to meet him. He saw Naruto sprinting forward but it was too late. He closed his eyes and felt like he hit a soft mattress.

_Huh?_

He opened his eyes and found himself lying on the ground with Naruto staring at him. "You OK kid?"

Harry sat up, "Fine."

"It was the damnest thing, it looked like you _**bounced…**_" Naruto muttered, scratching his head as he looked up at the balance beam and then back down. He began thumping the ground with his foot, checking it.

"Yeah, weird," Harry muttered, more worried about himself as he patted himself down, checking for possible injuries and finding none.

Naruto studied him intently for a moment and then shrugged, "Well if you're OK then let's try it again."

Harry winced. "Uh … I think I might have hurt myself. Pulled a muscle—"

Naruto pointed to the ladder and flashed a grin, showing his prominent incisors. Harry sighed and began scaling the ladder to begin the exercise again.

"And do it faster this time!" Naruto called out.

For now, all thoughts about the bounce/landing was driven from Harry's mind while he was busy cursing his adopted father.

Naruto was grinning. _If Harry hated this, then I can't wait until he got to the tightrope balancing exercises!_

* * *

The soccer ball came arcing through the air. Harry snarled as he tried to limit himself from using his chakra instinctively to boost his strength and speed. He had quickly realized why Naruto had "suggested" this little hobby.

After all that intensive training to develop and harness his chakra, it felt perfectly natural to allow the chakra to run throughout his body to enhance his physical performance.

_What he needed now,_ Naruto had lectured, _was control._ Rampant, uncontrolled chakra flowing through his body and muscles would ultimately prove detrimental to him. He couldn't do it all the time so he had to control where and when he unleashed his chakra. He had to do it consciously and deliberately.

He crouched and leapt into the air, trapping the ball with his chest. _Damn!_ He saw at least two defenders blocking him. He grinned as he saw the way. It would be a bit tricky but he had the angle. Now all he needed was the timing.

As the ball began to fall, his knee came upward to juggle the ball backwards over his shoulder. The two blockheads fell for it, thinking he had knocked it by accident. It wasn't.

He snapped his back, causing him to fall backwards and his kicking leg came arcing up and smashed into the ball in a bicycle kick!

**WHAM!**

The ball went hurtling past the goalie's outstretched arms.

"GOAL!"

Harry panted heavily as he got back to his feet, feeling sweat trickling down his forehead and getting underneath the bandanna that Naruto had him wear to conceal his forehead scar. Quite frankly, he thought that his scar looked rather cool. It made him rather distinctive but he agreed with Naruto that it was simply too memorable. Everyone would remember the bandanna. But it was damn annoying at times.

He grinned as his teammates were all cheering and whooping, a few were slapping his back to congratulate him.

"So cool!"

"Nice kick!"

"Way to go Uzumaki!"

* * *

It was pretty much over after that. Harry's goal had totally taken the wind of their opponent's sails. He grinned as he accepted the various acclamations and congratulations for the winning goal.

He suddenly noticed Anne Locksley approaching and felt his grin slip off his face. _Uh oh._ Until he joined, Locksley had been the star of the team. And she had not taken his ascension to that position very kindly. She was always giving him these smoldering looks before turning away when she noticed him looking at her.

So it was with great surprise when she smiled at him, "Nice shot!" she proclaimed.

"Uh … thanks," Harry said, scratching the back of his head perplexed at her friendly attitude.

She beamed and flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. "Maybe you could show me that kick sometime," she suggested.

_Ah. That explains it. She wanted to know how to do the bicycle kick._ "It's pretty much a matter of timing," Harry explained, evading giving her a definite time.

Her smile faded a bit. Gamefully, she seemed intent on trying to strike up a conversation, "So what school do you go to anyways? You just show up for practices and games…"

"Uh … I'm home schooled actually," Harry reported, trying not to burst out laughing at the memory of how Naruto had mastered the art of turning on a computer at least. However, Harry had noticed that Naruto spent more time playing video games, than trying to master the art of computer hacking. At least when Naruto wasn't struggling to come up with reasonable explanations to the local computer stores as to why he had to buy computer equipment in bulk. As someone who could crush steel in his bare hands, Naruto was a bit harder on delicate electronics than most.

"Oh …" Locksley looked disappointed and seemed to search for another conversation point, "Well … er … did you and your parents move here recently? I've never seen you in any of the soccer league matches."

_Ah. Trying to check up on him was she,_ Harry realized. _Clever. Very clever._ "Yeah. It's just me and my dad these days. He moves a lot for his job."

"What does he do?"

"Security consulting," Harry lied. That was the most reasonable explanation of Naruto's past occupation that he could come up with.

Whenever asked, Naruto claimed alternatively to be a retired mercenary, an ex-military dictator, or a former living weapon of mass destruction. Most people either thought he was insane or that he was joking. Harry suspected that Naruto took a perverse enjoyment in telling people the truth and watching how they reacted. It fit in his adopted father's warped sense of humor.

* * *

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he watched his adopted charge's confused face as the girl tried talking to him. He smirked as he took a sniff and smelled the pheromones that the girl was pumping out. She was definitely trying to get Harry's attention. She kept smiling at him, batting her eyes, and flipping her ponytail over her shoulder. He assessed her. She wasn't bad looking. Athletic. Sort of reminded him of Tenten.

Naruto's grin widened even further as he saw Harry's face turned from confused to flustered. He cackled. _Kami, this was amusing! I had forgotten just how funny watching kids fumbling around could be…_

* * *

Locksley was getting angrier and angrier and Harry wasn't sure why. He kept trying to find a safer topic to discuss while simultaneously develop the telepathic ability to convince her to go away. Neither was working.

Naruto finally took pity on the kid and came up and clapped Harry on the shoulder, "Hey kiddo. So who's this?" he asked, nodding at Locksley.

Harry resisted the urge to sigh in relief and quickly introduced his father to Anne Locksley and vice versa. Naruto chuckled as Anne immediately shifted to politely demure.

"So," Naruto remarked, "is she your girlfriend Harry?"

Harry choked. "WHAT?!"

Anne looked hurt at his exclamation.

"Heh heh," Naruto ruffled Harry's hair. "It's Harry's birthday next week," he informed Anne. "Why don't the two of you go out next weekend?"

Harry looked back and forth, "Huh?"

Harry wasn't sure what happened after that. There was a quick exchange of telephone numbers and addresses and Locksley scarpered off to grab her things and leave with her parents. He stared dumbly after her retreating form before he finally turned to his adopted father figure and exploded, "What the Hell are you doing?"

Naruto winked, "Setting you up on your first date."

"With her?" Harry protested, jerking a thumb in the direction of Locksley, "She hates me!"

"Definitely not kiddo. She likes you."

"She does?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Yep."

"No, she doesn't!" Harry argued, "She's always staring at me and following me around! Plus she acts weird whenever I talk to her!"

"I know!" Naruto crowed, slapping Harry on the back, "My first girlfriend acted like that when we were kids. Well," he temporized, "she was a bit odder. Always blushing and fainting," he grinned fondly in remembrance as he strolled off.

Harry stood motionless for a moment as he tried to sort through this information all before he shook himself awake and charged after Naruto. "Wait a second! What about this date thing?! What am I suppose to talk to her about? What am I suppose to do?" he yelled, flapping his arms, panicking.

Naruto reached out and draped one arm around Harry's shoulder. "Let me share you something that I have gathered from my extensive experience with women."

Harry brightened and listened intently.

"Women," Naruto said with great solemnity, waggling a finger as he pompously lectured, "despite what many will tell you, are not too difficult to understand."

Harry nodded thoughtfully.

"What you have to remember about women is one simple and very important rule," Naruto intoned with the somber and grave manner of a person revealing the holy mystical secrets of the universe.

Harry leaned forward, hanging on every single word. Eager to discover the answer to the riddle that had eluded mankind since the beginning of time.

"Women are all insane."

Harry stared at Naruto for a long moment. Then, "That's it?" he asked incredulously.

Naruto nodded, "Pretty much, yeah."

Harry looked at his adopted father with eyes flattened into slits, "Centuries of experience and that's all you've come up with."

"Trust me on this kid," Naruto said sagely, "It's not just you but every single individual of the male gender. Women are always right because according to them, women are never wrong. So if you _think_ a woman is wrong, then it's a mistake on your part," Naruto said waggling a finger.

"Women can get mad at you for any reason. It doesn't matter if it's unreasonable or illogical. It can be something you either said or thought! And believe me, you can't ask them what you did, because according to them, you _**should**_ know what you did!"

Harry felt his head was spinning at these convolutions.

"And Kami forbid she tells you what she actually wants for her birthday present! No, you have read their mind," Naruto started tapping his forehead angrily, "to know what she wants without her actually coming out and telling you, because it shows how damn thoughtful and sensitive you are!"

"Huh?"

"I know!" Naruto complained, "The simple truth is that you will never understand the mind of a woman and if you think you do, they will change it on you!"

"I see…" Harry said thoughtfully.

"Good!"

Harry nodded sagely, "Basically you have no real idea either."

Naruto scowled and folded his arms across his chest, pouting before admitting, "Pretty much, yeah. Worse comes to worse, tell her that you were wrong and get down on your knees and beg for forgiveness. Works everytime."

Harry shook his head and rolled his eyes. He decided that while his father might be a master of ninja arts, he would have to cherry pick the rest of the lessons he tried to pass on. His dad seemed to be frighteningly mature and wise man some of the time … and a great, big, overdeveloped child the rest of the time.

* * *

A week later, Harry's eighth birthday passed without major incident. His date with Anne went pretty well. It felt odd without the rest of the team there. She was very cute though in a tomboyish sort of way though and they were comfortable together. She even gave him a quick kiss at the very end.

Naruto teased him mercilessly for the rest of the day. Harry had a rather goofy grin on his face but managed to ignore his adopted father's antics. It was fortunate that he disregarded Naruto's advice on women as useless. Well, unless he wanted a quick way to get himself slapped silly or kneed in a very sensitive area.

He did decide that about the only piece of advice he might actually use was the kneeling and begging for forgiveness. That was the sole bit that actually _**seemed**_ sound … but that would have to wait until he needed to use it as a last resort. _On the other hand,_ he mused, _Naruto hadn't managed to get himself killed by angry females so it must work right?_

* * *

The rest of the summer was a fun and delightful time. Harry and Anne dated regularly over the next month but September saw Locksley return to school to their mutual regret. They would still date regularly but the demands of their time meant that they would no longer be able to see each other as frequently. Naruto began increasing Harry's training and the next few months flew by…

Harry flew through the hand seals once more. And fumbled the Rat Seal again. _Shit!_ He grimaced and decided to take a break. Harry sipped a bit of water and consulted the much scribbled on scroll again.

Naruto had informed him that aside from the 12 Standard Seals, there were at least 94 additional ones. Nearly 30 of those were repeats of the Standard 12, just in a slightly modified form such as one-handed seals.

Naruto had warned him against trying any of the one-handed seals for his jutsus until he was really proficient in his chakra control. The only other way that you could get away with using them was if you had used the technique so much and so often that it was practically instinctive.

Even then it wasn't quite as easy or efficient as it would have been if you had used both hands. Despite his own centuries of experience, Naruto admitted that he could only perform a few jutsus in this manner himself.

The 60 other seals were more esoteric or specialized seals that were familial jutsus or for highly specialized and exotically unique jutsus. Naruto boasted that he had invented 5 hand seals himself for his own personalized jutsus. Of course, Harry nor any other human for that manner, could use those 5 not to mention the other 20 demonic seals as they were meant to harness the unique mixture of both human and demonic chakra, meaning that only another Jiinchuriki could use them.

He shook his head as he peered at a jotted note in the margin of the scroll. After 2 years of studying his father's scrolls, Harry had gotten fairly proficient in deciphering Naruto's writing (or what everyone else would have called chicken scratching).

He continued to translate a faded string of writing on the scroll deeply. _Hmmm. It appeared to be some sort of code or … or … a very dirty limerick._ He scratched his head and considered his father's character. _Right._ He pointedly ignored that scribble and tried to make out another jotted note. _Ah, this could be useful although nothing to do with handseals directly. It appeared to be some sort of modified Transformation Henge. _He tilted his head to read the meandering script. _But what was an Orioke no Jutsu?_

* * *

The attempt with the _Orioke no Jutsu_ had proved to be disastrous. Harry had panicked once he discovered just what the jutsu did and clutching a pair of breasts made him realize that this was no ordinary Transformation Henge.

For a moment, he thought that he had screwed up and had somehow transformed himself into a woman. Permanently.

A split second later, he collapsed as it seemed every single muscle in his body was shifting. He wasn't even aware of himself screaming.

Naruto had heard him and came running. Afterwards, Naruto informed him that Harry was flailing around and it appeared his entire body was morphing, apparently trying to shapeshift itself back to a male and kept reverting to female. Naruto knocked him out and reversed the Henge. That seemed to settle things down.

Harry spent the next few days, quietly checking out his … male equipment every now and then, trying to make sure that it was still functioning properly.

Harry was worried about just what was going on. Even though he didn't say anything about the incident, so was Naruto.

* * *

He landed on the tree limb. It bent under his weight and he used the recoil to boost his next leap, landing in a crouch on a much larger and sturdier tree branch. Harry Uzumaki, once known as Harry Potter spared a moment to shoot a wary glance over his shoulder.

He heard and recognized the sounds of someone moving rapidly through the dense foliage nearby. The sounds of small twigs and branches snapping, leaves rustling were clearly audible as the pursuer was clearly more interested in catching up, than stealth. Harry reached into his equipment pouch and pulled out a trio of shurikens in both his right and left hands. He flung up and out his arms, sending out the spinning blades hurtling outwards like missiles.

He didn't even bother waiting to see how his projectiles had fared. The best that he could have hoped for was that his shurikens had been a minor distraction. He back flipped off the branch and dove headfirst down to the ground. His arms snapped out, seized another branch, and swung himself off in a new direction.

He cocked his ear and frowned, realizing that he hadn't heard any sound of pursuit. He stole a moment to warily glance backwards before his eyes swung back to his own path and widened comically as he saw the rushing fist aimed at his face.

Only years of training thanks to dodging Dudley's blows, came into play and he instinctively twisted in midair, evading the blow. Mostly. The fist glanced slightly off his cheek and he tumbled off into space.

He swore and his hand dove into his equipment pouch and withdrew a kunai with a strong wire attached to the handle. He flung it outward, seeing it drive into the trunk of a tree and he used it as an anchor to slow his fall. The wire dug into his palm as he swung around massive tree, his feet brushing against the scarred and battered trunk. He smiled faintly, feeling the uncontrollable urge to scream like Tarzan.

Before his wire ran out and the shock of the sudden stop would have been transmitted to his arm, he let go and landed on the ground with a thump and rolled to dissipate his momentum. He panted and glanced upward to see how far behind him his pursuer was. He was surprised that he didn't see any sign of him. _Uh oh._ That meant… he carefully surveyed his surroundings. _Above?_ No … no movement in the trees. _Behind?_ He uneasily glanced over his shoulder. _Then…_

"**DOTON!"** a loud voice cried out underneath him. Harry's head snapped downward. _Below!_ He realized as a hand burst out of the soil and clamped hard on his ankle.

"**GROUNDHOG DECAPITATION!" **

He heard Naruto's cry as he was suddenly and abruptly dragged below the earth.

Naruto exploded out from beneath the ground and landed on his feet, brushing off some dirt from his trenchcoat as he looked down at his adopted son's incredulous face at being buried up to his neck. He immediately burst out laughing hysterically, pounding on a tree before collapsing on the ground and rolling around, all the while cackling wildly. "BWA HA HA HA! Oh man! Now I know how Kakashi Sensei must have felt like! Hee hee! Oh Kami, I can't breathe!"

"OK, OK, fine you win! Now get me out of here!" Harry yelled.

Naruto sat up and folded his arms across his chest, mimicking a person in deep contemplation. "Hmmm … let me think about this …" Naruto said as he crunched his face and tilted his head to the side. "Hmmm … hmmm … uh … NO!"

Harry gritted his teeth and tried to wiggle free. "C'mon Naruto!"

"Fine, fine, just let me see here," Naruto began patting himself down before triumphantly extracting a large permanent ink marker and got a wicked grin on his face. "Ah!" he cried out triumphantly.

Harry's eyes widened as he realized just what Naruto intended on doing. His half hearted struggles redoubled. "Oh no you're not!" he yelled. He could swear that Naruto's incisors got even bigger as his grin widened, "Wanna bet?" he asked and uncapped the pen and began walking up.

"OH NO YOU'RE NOT!" Harry yelled and he felt something surge through his body and then the earth exploded.

* * *

Harry yelped and sat up. He blinked as he saw Naruto sitting cross legged next to him and holding an alcohol swap that he had apparently been using to clean some cuts on Harry. "Oh, you're up," Naruto said blandly.

Harry blink blinked. "What happened?!"

Naruto gave a one-shoulder shrug, "Beats the Hell out of me kid," he stated and gave a nod over Harry's shoulder. Harry turned and saw a still smoking crater.

"Did I do that?"

"Yep. Surprised me too. But it wasn't chakra-based. I know what chakra feels like but what you did wasn't chakra. It felt … different."

Harry winced and touched his forehead.

"Your scar acting up?" Naruto asked thoughtfully.

"Yeah. Hurts for some reason," Harry growled as he removed his fingers and looked at it, making sure that it wasn't bleeding. It sure was throbbing though.

Naruto raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. _The scar of Harry's was becoming more and more interesting…_

He really missed Granny Tsunade at times like this. Or even Sakura. Their medical diagnostician abilities would reveal a lot more than his clumsy efforts. All he could tell was that something was weird about that scar.

Despite his many attempts, Naruto had not been able to heal it. And he had tried too. About ten months ago, he thought that he had finally managed it. It lasted for a day before the newly healed skin burst open leaving behind the bleeding wound. It left Harry with a blinding headache for a week afterwards and the jagged scar reappeared, as though mocking Naruto's efforts.

Since then, Naruto had left it alone. But he knew that there was definitely something odd about it. He just wished he knew what. From his centuries of experience though, he had the feeling that it was going to come and bite them in the ass.

* * *

When he had first met Harry Potter over two years ago, Naruto had on a whim, adopted the kid. He felt sorry for him. He needed someone to look after him. Basically, he had just done it on sheer impulse. Just like what he had done most of his life.

At the time, he decided that he had been fairly lucky; the kid was already toilet trained, could feed and bath himself, and everything. It didn't seem like too onerous a task. Deep down, Naruto thought that he just needed to get the kid out from his abusive guardians and after a bit, he could find someone else to take care of him, and he could take off, his good deed done.

Well, that was his original intention anyway. He never intended for it to last this long. Never intended to actually start teaching the kid the ninja arts either. Yet Harry had been so persistent, sneaking looks at his scrolls and picking up his weapons and tools and experimenting with them. So he decided to train the kid for real and show him just how hard it really was to be a ninja. And Harry would be begging him to give it up. _Yep. That was the plan. Amazing how they always seemed to completely fall apart._ Naruto wondered briefly if it was just him or if other people had this problem too.

Frankly, he was flabbergasted at how fast Harry was picking this stuff up. The kid's work ethic was impressive, he simply grit his teeth and worked harder. About the only damn good thing that the Dursleys had done was that they made sure that Harry wasn't afraid of hard work.

He had been sure that Harry was simply too old to begin to develop the ability to harness his chakra. Yet he had. Not to mention his hand-to-eye coordination was phenomenal and his reflexes were incredible. His speed and agility weren't bad either. The kid was a natural. Naruto was sure that had Harry been born in Konoha, he would have been named a genius prodigy like Kakashi Sensei.

Heck, if he hadn't revamped the qualifications and standards for Genins after he ascended to the rank of Hokage, then Harry would have easily qualified as one already. Naruto shook his head in disbelief, wondering just how he had managed to survive his early Genin days with such pathetic training standards.

He had certainly never expected to be a father. Well, not after losing Hinata. He smiled sadly. He remembered a few short years before his investiture as the Hokage, how the rather odd and weird girl who had been his classmate confessed that she was in love with him. He had been shocked and surprised that someone could love him at all.

Despite knowing her probable reaction, he felt obligated to tell her the truth. About the terrible beast that was sealed within him. About the horrible burden that he had been chosen to bear.

He fully expected her to be repulsed. To reject him when she learned the truth.

But she had the courage to look past that. In fact, he smiled fondly in memory about how she had offered herself to him to show him that it didn't matter to her. That had been one of the best nights of his life. Even after all of these centuries, he could still remember with perfect clarity her gasps and soft cries, the sweet scent of her body, the feel of her bare skin against his.

The Hyuuga Elders had not been pleased how the Clan Heir had taken up with him but the grumbling old geezers had ultimately backed down. After all, the couple had the support of Granny Tsunade and several of the other Clan Heads, not to mention that Naruto was the only viable successor to the Hokage post. They knew that their influence and power would only increase so they pasted false smiles on their dour faces and sucked up to him and Hinata. Well, mainly him. They really didn't give a shit about her as long as she was marrying somebody who could increase their political power. _Kami, how he hated politicians. They were all such two-faced lying bastards!_

But he didn't care. Not as long as he had her. They had been very happy for the short time they had been together. Up until the time when Hinata had gotten pregnant. Then, about five months into the pregnancy, she collapsed.

His nostrils flared and he felt his chakra begin to surge in memory of that horrible night. Hearing her screams of agony and the stench of her blood as Sakura, Shizune, and Tsunade fought for her life and their child's life to no avail.

Officially, it was a miscarriage.

Unofficially, the three medic nins conspired to hide the truth.

It was all because of the Damn Fox. The changes that his demonic chakra had done to him had made themselves more apparent in their child. Sakura had tried to avoid telling him, but he had seen how she abruptly averted her eyes guiltily. Both Shizune and Tsunade were much better liars, but when he confronted them, they reluctantly admitted that it appeared that the severe internal bleeding and damage to her internal organs had been the result of the unnatural strength possessed by the fetus. A mere kick from the baby had done all of the damage.

He had collapsed mentally for a while there, grief stricken that it was because of him that Hinata was dead. Dead because she wanted his child. But the trio had known what Naruto's political enemies would make of this revelation; that he was transforming into the Demon Fox. Despite himself, he smirked. _Who knew that they were actually right? I suppose even idiots couldn't be wrong __**all**__ of the time._

So Sakura, Shizune, and Tsunade all falsified their testimonies and doctored the autopsy documents to make it appear that it was simply an unfortunate tragedy. _And who would question the greatest and most skilled medic nins of Konoha? Their abilities were unquestioned … not to mention both Sakura and Tsunade were fully capable of terrifying and intimidating anyone who tried. Not that Shizune couldn't be scary too in her own way; s__he simply didn't rely on physical threats like the other two._

He never dared to have children after that. Never remarried either, even though quite a few women had offered.

The idea of parenthood had simply passed him by as he threw himself into serving as the Hokage. He had even served as a Mentor to quite a few Genin Cells over the years, but even there he had solely been in a position of authority. He was their leader, but not their father figure. Now after all of these centuries, he suddenly found himself unexpectedly saddled with the responsibility of fatherhood. Well, he was probably not the first man to do so. Probably not the last either.

It felt odd at first to be a parent. To shouldered with the responsibility for looking after another person. For centuries, he had no one to answer to, no one else to think about. Only yourself to worry about. Footloose and fancy free as the saying goes. It was rather surprising how quickly he grew to like it.

He had thought himself prepared for things. He had several centuries of experience under his belt. Surely, nothing could come up that Naruto couldn't handle. He snorted. _Yeah, right._ The problem was that he had no idea about what was happening to Harry and with this strange power that he was manifesting.

It wasn't chakra. And it wasn't like the demonic chakra wielded by the Demon Beasts either.

It just felt … different. He had no other words to describe it. But now that he had sensed it several times, he could tell something else.

The energy that Harry was unconsciously wielding was very similar, yet also very dissimilar to whatever bizarre power that was clinging to that blasted jagged scar on his forehead. Exactly what the Hell _**that**_ meant, he had absolutely no idea.

He massaged his forehead and wondered if every single kid was such an annoying and frustrating puzzlement to their parents or if it was just him who was so damn lucky?


	4. The Night Tribes

**Preface:** I've been writing for a while though most of my stuff is for my own amusement and I've only been posting my work online here recently. However I have to admit that I am surprised by the response that this story has generated.

None of my other works approach the level of popularity that _Harry Uzumaki_ has generated. While my other stories have been Reviewed or placed in the Favorites or Alerts categories, and even listed in various Communities; I was aware, painfully at times, that most of my stuff wasn't that popular.

Over two-thirds of my stories' reviews are only in the single digits, half of them aren't even posted in any Community and those that are, usually are in only one at most. The same sort of stats apply to the Favorites or Alert categories as well, they're in the low double digits and none of them approach the 100 mark. To give you an idea of how things stand; my second most popular story _The Girl Genius_ can boast of having 32 Reviews, being in 4 separate Communities, 39 have listed it in their Favorites, and 64 have requested to being Alerted. And I posted it way back in December of 2007!

In comparison, _Harry Uzumaki_ has only been up since February of 2010 and has already earned 75 Reviews! Been posted in 45 Communities! 240 have named it in their Favorites and 394 have it on their Alert Subscriptions!

Quite a difference as you can see. I'm proud of my other stories but I have to admit that it's a lot easier to muster up the will to continue writing a story when it's clearly obvious that someone else is reading it and enjoying it, like I enjoy reading other people's stories as well. To those who enjoy reading _Harry Uzumaki_, thank you for taking the time to do so. This chapter is dedicated to you, the fans.

* * *

**Harry Uzumaki & the 9-Tailed Fox**

Chapter 3: _The Night Tribes_

* * *

"Vampires?" Harry said in a high-pitched voice, trying to give the appearance that he was completely calm and wasn't on the verge of panicking.

Clearly Naruto wasn't the slightest bit fooled because he lazily drawled, "You keep repeating that."

"It bears repeating!" Harry barked out, running his hands through his messy black hair nervously. "When you told me about this trip, you didn't mention anything about vampires!"

Naruto grinned. "Because I thought if you knew, you'd panic," he said leaving the clearly unspoken comment; _See? You're panicking. _

Harry cursed his adopted father. _Mostly, _some calm part of his brain remarked snidely, _because he had this annoying tendency to be right all the bloody time…_

* * *

His eighth year had come and gone, far faster than Harry ever expected. Naruto had increased his level of training exponentially and Harry found himself spent and exhausted every day.

He was run into the ground, then yanked up to his feet and forced to run some more. He was put through heavy calisthenics, gymnastics, and acrobatics, martial katas, weapon handling, and most importantly of all, various different types of ninjutsus.

Even on those days when he wasn't undergoing physical training, he was poring over his father's scrolls and was relentless tested and retested in genjutsu theory, the strategic uses of various ninjutsus, and identifying the myriad taijutsu forms.

The limited free time he had was spent with Anne. They got to be good friends and Harry enjoyed spending time with her.

It was about two months after his ninth birthday that Naruto announced that they would be leaving on a trip and he wasn't sure about how long it would be…

* * *

Harry lay on the soft grass and watched the night skies and the stars. He was going to miss this place. It was surprising, when he realized that. He had not missed the Dursleys or England at all. It was a place of bad memories. Of old pains and old hurts.

In the early days when he was traveling with Naruto, he never felt attached to any particular place either. They were constantly on the move. Hiding. Lying. Well, technically he was _**still**_ lying but somehow it was like the lie had become the truth.

He wasn't Harry Potter anymore. He wasn't the weird scrawny kid in the too large clothes and the taped glasses. He wasn't the kid picked last for sports. The kid without any friends. The kid who was the target of his whale of a cousin. The kid who was abused by his aunt and uncle.

He was Harry Uzumaki. His father was Naruto Uzumaki, who might not be a stranger, but was definitely weird. He was an Apprentice Ninja. He was the boyfriend to Anne Locksley. He was the star of the soccer league. And now he was leaving.

He heard the soft crunch and saw his father striding up to him. "Time to go?" he asked softly.

Naruto only nodded. Harry got to his feet and watched as his adopted father went through his final preparations. The Great Sealing Circle was ready. Naruto clapped his hands together, pressing them tight until Harry could sense chakra surging through them and he slammed his hands on the ground, sending the pulse of chakra through the Seals.

Harry watched as the entire Seal array light up and he saw the familiar cottage vanish in a bang of smoke. Naruto dusted his hands together and strode to the exact center of where the house had been and picked up the small scroll lying there before tucking it into one of his pockets.

"So …" Naruto remarked with a raised eyebrow, "what are you going to miss the most? This place? Or the girl?"

Harry tried to glance away, knowing that his cheeks were heating up. "I dunno."

"Huh. Guess you're not as grown up as I thought…" Naruto broke off as he caught the thrown kunai aimed at his head. "Your aim was a bit off," he remarked with a smirk.

"Jerk!"

Harry gritted his teeth as he heard his adopted father snicker as he reached out and clapped his hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry winced as he felt his father's chakra surrounding him. He really hated Shushining alongside his father. It always made him feel incredibly disoriented with a splitting headache.

It also brought to mind another incident a few months ago during another sparring session when he somehow projected himself over a dozen feet away in a loud explosive bang. It resulted him in severe pain all over his body and left him puking his guts out for the next day as he simply couldn't hold any food down.

_One of these days, I am going to find a nice and safe method of instantaneous transport. Even if I have to bloody well _invent _it..._ he mentally promised himself as they vanished in a swirl of wind and leaves.

* * *

Harry shook off his trip down memory lane and snapped at his adopted father, "I'd like a little prior notice before having to risk my life!"

Naruto spread his arms wide, "I'm telling you now aren't I?"

"That is not the same thing!" Harry roared, "You're not supposed to tell me the day before we go meet a bunch of vampires! I'd like a little—" he held up his thumb and his forefinger an inch apart, "—more warning than that!"

"You're going to get wrinkles if you keep frowning ya know," Naruto chided.

_I'm going to give myself a heart attack if you keep this stuff up,_ Harry thought to himself darkly. _It would just serve Naruto right if I collapse in a frothing seizure. The only problem was that I'd be dead too…_

Naruto suddenly threw something at Harry who instinctively caught it. It was a cloth bundle but there was some definite weight to it. Naruto grinned, "That's for you."

Harry blinked and unwrapped it and found himself staring at a metal plate with the familiar engraved spiral leaf sigil of Konoha.

"You're no longer an Apprentice. Congratulations … Genin."

Harry's head snapped up as he stared at Naruto staring at him with a bemused look on his face. Aside from the various physical qualifications such as weapons handlings and accuracy and the taijutsu skill requirements, Genins had to know at least fifty different jutsus and not only be able to perform them but demonstrate mastery in at least ten of those. Then and only then were they allowed the honor of bearing the Forehead Protector.

According to Naruto, most Apprentice Ninjas made do with a strip of cloth with a painted Konoha symbol until they actually attained their rank and they symbolically burnt it afterwards. Astonished, he tried to count up his repertoire of jutsus to double check.

"Part of why I was training you up was to get you to Genin level. Because if worse comes to worse, you can and will be able to defend yourself if things go bad from here on."

Harry's danger sense twanged at that. _Naruto was actually worried? _"Just how bad are we talking here?" he asked, feeling cold.

Naruto hesitated and then said, "You know you keep telling me that I have this annoying habit for downplaying things and minimizing danger?"

"Yeah?"

Naruto coughed and averted his eyes. "Well, I'm telling you that this could be a bit dangerous."

Harry froze. If Naruto (who had one of the most cavalier sense of danger that Harry had ever seen) thought this undertaking was risky then... "We're gonna die aren't we?" Harry said in a dry monotone.

"Oh this is just in case!" Naruto waved him off, although Harry saw his grin was a bit forced, "I'm sure that she's forgotten all about that little incident!"

"Uh huh … Ohh—kay…" Harry drawled out, not believing that statement in the slightest.

Naruto coughed, "Right! Now, you know about all that stuff in the movies about vampires? Forget it. Most of it is just crap. To be a Vampire, I mean a real Vampire, you have to be literally born as one. It's a bloodline, a demonic one. They're an actual supernatural race of low-level demons. That's why they don't like Holy Water, crosses and can't enter consecrated or holy ground.

"They do drink blood, they are pretty strong and are darn near immortal. They also got a regenerative ability so if they get injured, they heal fast. That bit about how only wooden stakes to the heart or cutting off their head can kill 'em is completely overdone though. I mean, yeah it'll kill them, but it would kill anyone else too. Destroy enough of their body or internal organs to overwhelm their healing trick, and they ain't getting back up again. Fire works best so if you gotta, use your Katon Jutsus.

"They're allergic to garlic too. Oh and they don't like sunlight. Their skin starts to literally burn but they don't 'instantly vaporize'. And that story about how they can't cross running water or enter uninvited is totally bullshit."

Harry frowned. "What about them turning into mist or bats or wolves and stuff like that?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nope."

"Huh."

Naruto added, "They can do a little shapeshifting. Fangs, claws, more bestial features ... but that's about it. No total body changing."

"They sound both more and less powerful than the movies," Harry admitted, his worry lessening. Vampires sounded like they were a handful but not the indestructible, unkillable monsters as the stories proclaimed. Harry felt the knot in his stomach unraveling.

"There are also Lesser Vampires called Dhampirs. Those are the Half Bloods or one of their ancestors was a Vampire. They have some of the powers of Vampires but they aren't as strong but they may or may not have the same vampiric weaknesses. But what you'll have to worry about are the Ghouls. Those are the most numerous ones."

Harry nodded, filing the information away. "What are those?"

"Basically when somebody gets their blood drained, most of 'em die. But a few are turned into an Undead. A Ghoul.

"They're practically mindless bloodthirsty animals but even weaker than Dhampirs. They also don't last too long before their bodies fall apart and they die for real. They're literally walking corpses. They can only sustain themselves when they drink blood from others, because it helps extend their lifespan. But if they bite you, you get poisoned by a rotting flesh disease."

_Right. Don't get bitten. Great tip,_ Harry thought to himself. Internally Harry found himself classifying Vampires as a Jounin-level ninja, they were relatively fewer in number compared to the Dhampirs which sounded more like Chunins with the Ghouls as Genins. Surprisingly it helped.

Naruto coughed, "But uh … I think I should mention that this woman who we're gonna be meeting is not only a Pureblood Vamp, she's also the most powerful one around."

Harry scowled. _Perfect. Juuuust perfect. I should have known._ Sighing, he asked, "Just how powerful are we talking here?"

Naruto hesitated, clearly reluctant to say but with a grimace he began to release the information. "She belongs to the equivalent of the Vampire Royalty. She's their Empress if you want to be specific. Unlike most of 'em, she can actually channel her chakra like we can, although she does it different ways. She can throw this black fire that can burn through anything. She can fly or teleport herself through shadows. She's also stronger than I am and has at least, Jounin-Level Taijutsu. Oh and she pretty much immune to most of those weaknesses I mentioned. Her Regeneration is off the charts. She could tan herself if she wanted to, but she thinks she looks better with pale skin and I've seen her laugh off getting staked."

Harry absorbed that. He quickly decided that this woman sounded like she belonged in the Kage Rank and any sort of relief he had been feeling, instantly dissipated. "And this is the woman who _**you**_ pissed off?"

Naruto waved him off. "Oh relax! I'm sure that she's already forgiven me for that tiny, little incident. I mean it's been like a century or so!"

Harry rolled his eyes upward. _Great. Not only did his dad piss off a vampire, he had to go and piss off some sort of __Über-V__ampire. _

"Sure, she threatened that if she ever saw me again that she would do something anatomically impossible, but I'm pretty sure she was just kidding."

Naruto paused and cocked his head, "Mostly. She really does reminds me of Sakura."

Harry nodded skeptically. "That was one of your former girlfriends right?"

"Yep. She was a real spitfire," Naruto remarked, his eyes unfocused and a wistful grin on his face, "Sure she had a hair trigger temper and a real wicked right hook but she was one Hell of a tiger in be—" Naruto suddenly broke off and coughed, "—uh … battlefield," he said hastily. "Yeah, she was a tiger on the battlefield."

* * *

_Of course, we have to travel by night,_ Harry thought to himself darkly. He had wondered why his father had stopped and loafed around all day until nightfall. Apparently the Vampire Castle was in some sort of Dimensional Warp that folded it into a pocket universe during the day making it inaccessible except at night. But he felt especially helpless stumbling around in pitch darkness.

His father wasn't having as much problems as he apparently had superior night vision. He wondered if there was some sort of jutsu that could give him that ability. Naruto hadn't mentioned one though. Failing that, he was going to have to buy or steal some sort of night vision goggles, depending on the availability of said item.

Naruto suddenly held up a hand. Harry paused and watched his father cock his head and a nostril flared slightly. "We got company," Naruto reported.

Harry heard large whooshing noises. Like something … rather large was flying through the air. And he was sure it wasn't any bird. He palmed a kunai. "Vampires?" he asked, hoping his voice didn't sound as high pitched as he thought it did (and suspecting it really did too).

Naruto shook his head negatively. "Nuh huh."

Several large somethings swooped through the air above them, leathery bat-like wings flapping. One of them came dive bombing them and landed in an earthshaking impact as the creature snarled at them and raised it's massive taloned hands threateningly.

It was almost naked except for a loincloth and it's skin was dark grey and Harry saw a huge brow and what appeared to be horns as it narrowed it's glowing incandescent eyes at them. Harry gulped as it reared back, showing an impressive musculature and flared its wings threateningly and a lizard like tail writhed behind it.

"Gargoyles," Naruto reported with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't seen Gargoyles in nearly four centuries at least… maybe closer to five. He had thought that the entire species was extinct but obviously not. He saw others circling and lurking in the trees.

* * *

"Leave now humans!" the creature bellowed.

_Great idea,_ Harry thought to himself. It was a great suggestion in his own personal opinion.

As if reading his adopted son's thoughts, Naruto snapped a hand up. "No we're not," he said in a soft but firm voice.

Another gargoyle, female this time; judging by the tight fitting tunic covering her breasts in addition to the loincloth alighted nearby and seemed to be having a hard time deciding who to glare at more; Naruto or it's fellow gargoyle.

"What are you doing?" the female gargoyle hissed, her eyes narrowed and glowing. "They're human! We have to kill them!" she roared, showing a pair of impressive incisors as she turned her glare to Naruto and Harry.

Naruto drawled, "We're here to see Queen Natasha."

The male one looked confused momentarily while the female gargoyle hissed, "You lie!"

The male gargoyle snapped up a hand, cutting her off. She visibly choked back her next heated shout. Satisfied, he turned back to face Naruto. "I do not know how you know the name of the Queen but humans are not welcome here under any circumstances. I suggest you take the boy and go," he boomed, gesturing back the way they came before adding, "Other Sentinels would not be so kind."

"The boy can take care of himself … and whoever said I was human?" Naruto remarked with a smirk and unleashed a bit of his demonic chakra. Instantly, an aura of reddish energy bloomed into existence around him.

Harry shuddered and tried not to fall to his knees under the incredible pressure that threatened to choke him.

Even the gargoyle looked staggered and rocked back, his eyes wide. "That aura … you're not human…" he muttered, his eyes flicking back to Harry and then to Naruto and back again, "… but the boy is…"

The gargoyle shook himself and seemed to come to a decision. "Very well … follow me. But be warned," he growled and his eyes glowed momentarily, "do not try to flee or escape."

* * *

They made a rather strange procession. The two gargoyles leading them while Harry saw several more of the same species, although a number of them were very different physically, giving them a flying escort as well.

As they crossed the bridge into the massive castle itself, Harry saw even more strange beings milling around. A lot of them. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he studied the beings and muttered, "Nagas, Taurens, Ogres, Fiends, Beastmen... I wasn't expecting this."

"How so?"

"Vampires are really paranoid buggers. And they don't like dealing with the 'lesser' races. Which is generally … uh … everybody else."

"So why are there so many of them around?"

"Look in a damn mirror human," the female gargoyle snarled, shooting an evil glare over her shoulder. Obviously, those pointed ears weren't just for looks. "It is because of your race that we have been forced to flee from our homes and our lands. All of the Night Tribes now live in exile!"

"Enough!" the male gargoyle barked, "This one child is not responsible for the misdeeds of his entire race."

The female growled, clearly not believing that statement in the slightest.

The male seemed embarrassed. "My apologies," he said, tilting his head fractionally. "Have no fear. You both are under my Clan's protection. Until your audience with Queen Natasha."

Harry swore he could hear the unspoken _'at least'_ addendum. After said audience, he suspected was a whole other story.

"Don't worry kid."

Harry turned to see his adopted father giving him a smirk. "Nobody is going to harm you while I'm around."

That was the last thing Naruto said. All Harry heard next was a dull thunk as several inches of steel sprouted from Naruto's chest.

* * *

**A/N:** Konoha's Genin Test always seemed rather overly simple to me. All you needed was the Bushin, Kawamiri, and the Henge techniques to pass? I mean, pre-Zabuza, the Mist Village had that brutal fight-to-the-death trial before you became a Genin. In my mind, after Naruto took over as Hokage, he revamped the graduation requirements. Basically you needed those three techniques to graduate and become an apprentice ninja but to be named a Genin and get the headband, you needed to know 50 jutsus. If those of Kage rank needed to know 1000 jutsus, then I figure Jounins need to know at least 600 and Chunins around 300 respectively.

In case some of you missed it, the male and female gargoyles are indeed based on Goliath and Demona from the _Gargoyles _TV series. They're owned by Disney and were created by Greg Weisman. I'm not sure yet if I will be giving them the same names though.


	5. The Queen of the Vampires

**Harry Uzumaki & the 9-Tailed Fox**

Chapter 4: _The Queen of the Vampires_

_

* * *

_

The stone fireplace abruptly ignited. Flames shot upward and flared bright green as Albus Dumbledore was spat out and landed on his feet. He winced slightly as the soles of his weary feet protested the abuse. Seconds later, the fire extinguished itself. Dumbledore looked grave and solemn as he absently brushed some soot off his robes and strode to his elaborate desk.

Nearby on a perch, a rather pathetic looking bird with drooping feathers gave him a soothing croon. Dumbledore gave his phoenix familiar Fawkes a sad smile and a gentle pat before he seated himself with a sigh of relief.

"Am I to assume from your pitiful expression that your mission has not been successful Albus?" a sarcastic voice inquired from a nearby painting.

Dumbledore nodded at the portrait, "You are correct, Phineas."

Phineas Nigellus Black, once the Least Popular Headmaster of Hogwarts, gave a dry sniff of disbelief that he was ever wrong. If he ever had been, Albus was quite sure that Phineas had taken great pains to make sure that no one ever found out about it. Which could range anywhere from bribery, blackmail, and accidental death.

"I take it then that it was indeed, merely a rumor that the boy was sighted?"

Dumbledore could almost hear the unsaid _I-told-you-so_ even as he reported, "The boy in question was a very good look-alike Phineas. Around the same age, build, and appearance but I was able to confirm that Timothy Hunter was most definitely not Harry Potter."

Immediately the other portraits gave mournful expressions and murmurs of sympathy.

All except one. Black gave an explosive snort. "How many of these sighting are you going to be chasing down Dumbledore?" he demanded. "It's been over three years since the boy went missing! If you haven't found him by now—"

"As many as are needed, Phineas!" Dumbledore interrupted, "And I'm damn well acquainted with the date!" he exploded, shocking all of the portraits into silence, because normally Dumbledore was always calm and composed. He closed his eyes and took a deep cleansing breath. "My apologies," he said and gave the various painting a brief inclination of his head.

All of the other painting murmured acceptances except for Phineas, whose back seemed to have gotten even straighter and stiffer than before.

"The fact that you lost your temper only proves to me that you are afraid that you agree with me," Black commented in a cold voice.

Dumbledore fixed the painting with a glare, feeling the overwhelming urge to rip it off the wall, cast it into the fireplace, and set aflame with a well placed Fiendfyre Curse. Which only seemed to delight the cantankerous former Headmaster who settled back and fell asleep, satisfied at having gotten in the last word.

He groaned as he settled back in his chair, hearing his aged spine crack and removed his half moon spectacles in order to pinch his crooked nose and rubbed his weary eyes. He was tired. He was so tired. He needed to rest for a moment. But so many people were counting on him. He had so many things that needed looking after.

His latest DADA Teacher would not be returning. _**Again.**_ A freak accident during his vacation had left the man hospitalized while St. Mungo's tried to reattach all of his limbs properly. He wondered just how that had happened.

And Fudge was begging for advice about some problem with Gringott's.

Not to mention that the International Confederacy and the Wizengamot were fighting over the wording in the revisions to their latest treaty obligations. And both of them wanted him to support their side.

Plus he was months behind in his correspondence. He had dozens and dozens of urgent letters, pleas from desperate witches and wizards soliciting his advice.

But one thought kept resounding in his head. One thought that continued to haunt him even as he drifted off into a troubled sleep.

_Where was Harry Potter?_

* * *

Harry Uzumaki (once known as Harry Potter) was wondering just what the Hell was he doing here. His adopted father had come up with this brilliant idea to go and visit a vampire who might or might not, bear a grudge against him.

Now he could only stare in disbelief as the huge sword blade pierced his father's chest, blood spraying. He saw Naruto's look of complete and utter surprise. The widening of his eyes as his knees buckled and he toppled forward like a marionette with its strings ruthlessly cut.

Part of him wanted to scream.

Another part, clinically noted that Naruto's wound was certainly fatal. It had gone straight through the heart and even Naruto's legendary healing abilities would be taxed, if not overwhelmed by the severity of this injury.

The only thing Harry could do was ask if Naruto wanted an open or closed casket for the funeral. And that was if he was fast enough and if he was lucky enough that Naruto's lungs weren't flooded with blood which would impair his ability to speak.

Years of training; ranging from lectures, to studying, to personal combat had never actually prepared him for this.

He knew the answers by heart. The textbook response to the situation. All of his training told him to assume a defensive stance in order to prepare for an immediate assault and further assess the situation. To objectify the wounded person as a medical casualty, to ignore him as a liability, and as a potential distraction. His own personal survival was paramount. And that was all.

That was what he should do.

What his strict training had hammered into him.

Yet seeing his father struck down like that and he couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. He never felt so helpless. Not even with the Dursleys. Not with Dudley beating him, not with the other bullies picking on him, not with the other neighborhood kids pointing and laughing at him, not with the teachers ignoring him and the adults all pretending he didn't exist. All in all, they were small and petty annoyances.

He just found a whole new terrifying and horrifying level of helplessness.

Naruto … Naruto wasn't suppose to die.

He wasn't. He had listened to his father's stories for years; of his legendary battles, long campaigns, and even a few brutal wars that he had participated in. All of which Naruto had survived. Naruto was the Hokage of Konoha. He was the Nine-Tailed Fox. Immortal. Invincible. Indestructible.

And so, even in his darkest nightmares, Harry had never imagined Naruto being struck down like this.

He was his father. He was the bedrock of Harry's existence and his life. The foundation of his entire world. _He couldn't … he _wasn't _suppose to die! He wasn't!_

Now all Harry could do was stand there and stare in mute shock at the figure clad in black and blood stained armor standing over the fallen body of Naruto. He might look it, but he definitely wasn't human. No human had glowing green eyes that peered out of the eye slots of his helmet. Harry swore he saw some sort of dark mist oozing out from around the mouth vents as it gave out a raspy, metallic sounding chuckle.

His black gauntlet encased hand was still gripping the hilt of his extremely long sword. The blade was at least 4 feet in length. _A hand and a half sword,_ Harry recognized through his rather exhaustive weapons identification training. _Of course, it was more commonly known by its nickname. A Bastard Sword. Like its owner, it too was black in coloration._

The glowing eyes seemed to focus on Harry, as if sizing him up. When abruptly the black knight stiffened. And Harry suddenly saw the why.

The why was the shadowy figure that rose up from behind the backstabbing armored warrior and pressed a sharp kunai against his throat. Harry blinked as he saw the spiky blonde hair and the glowing crimson eyes with the slitted pupil.

_Naruto!_

* * *

Harry gaped as he saw a double of Naruto standing behind his killer with a stone face. _If Naruto was alive then—_he glanced down at the corpse which suddenly seemed to swell up before exploding in a cloud of smoke.

**BOOM!**

_Kage Bushin,_ Harry realized belatedly and with enormous relief. Followed shortly by annoyance that he had been fooled too. He wondered just when Naruto had replaced himself with that doppleganger.

"Damn, I knew that was too easy," the armored knight cursed.

Naruto had his "game face" on; the pronounced whisker tattoos on his face, the enlarged canines, the fox-like ears, and the reddish slit pupils. Naruto's untamed mass of hair was even spikier and wilder than usual and seemed to ripple as though a stiff breeze was blowing even though the air was still and calm.

"**Still fond of stabbing people in the back I see, Vexis,"** Naruto growled in a slightly deeper and more animalistic voice.

There was another metallic chuckle. "Well if it works, why fix it?" the blood stained knight gave a casual shoulder roll at that dismissive statement. Then he violently spun, the ebony blade whipping up to chop Naruto's head off. Naruto flipped into the air and landed upside down with one hand on the extended blade. His foot rocketed out smashed into Vexis' helmet, knocking the would-be assassin backwards.

Naruto flipped back and landed lightly on his toes, spinning in place, and extended the point of his kunai at the black knight with one hand and the other in a raised guard position.

Vexis slowly got to his feet, extending his own sword at Naruto and growling menacingly.

_Round two,_ Harry realized with a gulp. He fumbled for his weapons pouch to back his adopted father up.

Before the blood could fly, it was interrupted by a third party. The male gargoyle rushed in, interposing himself in between the two. **"HOLD!"** he roared, his large wings snapping outward as he glared back and forth between Naruto and the Black Knight. Although, the gargoyle seemed to focus much more on the Knight than Naruto.

Naruto took a step back and his face assuming it's more human form, although he didn't disarm himself.

"There is no fighting here!" the male gargoyle warned, although once his admonishment was done, he turned to direct his baleful glare at the black clad knight. "You go too far Assassin! Everyone is protected under the Queen's Law in Sanctuary! Even visitors! I will tell her Majesty of your actions!"

The knight seemed to be weighing his options, his glowing eyes flaring before they dimmed. With a metallic rasp, he sheathed his sword. "Another time then. One of these days though," Vexis hissed at Naruto, "when you least expect it … the second you lower your guard, forget to keep one eye on your back ... _I'll_ be there. Waiting for you, **_Maelstrom_**."

Naruto flashed a tight grin and flipped his kunai around, sticking it in his weapons pouch. "Well, that's what you're best at isn't it?"

Vexis gave a nasty chuckle in response. "You won't see me until it's too late," he promised before glancing at the fuming gargoyle. "And I won't forget this _either_, Goliath."

The appropriately named Gargoyle folded his very large and sinewy arms across his massive chest defiantly. "How that _**pains**_ me, coming from an honorless cur like yourself."

"Temper, temper Goliath," Vexis warned, waggling a scolding finger at the hulking gargoyle. "Don't be making any threats you can't back up. Maybe one of these days, _someone_ might take a sledgehammer to some of your Clan when you're all doing your imitation of a stone statue."

Goliath's expression turned even uglier and darker as he seemed to swell up, his eyes strobing incandescently and a subsonic growl seemed to cause the entire surroundings to vibrate in sympathy. "If a single member of my Clan suffers so much as a chip—!"

Vexis threw back his head and laughed and he abruptly vanished in a thin puff of smoke, leaving behind his echoing laughter.

Goliath let out a bellow of anger and his fist snapped out, smashing a stone wall. Harry gulped as the wall was instantly pulverized. Harry suspected that the two of them were not good buddies.

He also decided to do his best to stay on the gigantic gargoyle's good side.

* * *

Harry always thought his weird-o-meter had risen significantly ever since he met Naruto Uzumaki. However, this place definitely topped it.

He paused at the sight of a six foot tall green guy with several horns sticking out of his head. _And a half,_ he ruefully noted.

Greenie was also one of the more _**normal**_ looking members populating the large and ornate throne room. And that was saying something.

He saw what looked like a giant furry cat woman, a sort of weird looking plant that was shambling around on it's roots, and an incredibly obese … thing that dripped slime or some sort of unidentifiable substance. Harry noted that fatty never had to ask anyone to get out of his way; every single creature gave it a wide berth, recoiling whenever it stumbled near.

Harry mumbled, "Maybe we should leave."

Naruto looked confused. "What? Why?"

"Why?" Harry blurted out incredulously. "That Vexis guy just tried to kill you!"

"Oh that? Never mind that," Naruto waved it off dismissively, "You'd be surprised at how often that happens."

Harry rolled his eyes at that statement. He rather thought it wasn't all _**that**_ common and had more to do with Naruto than anything else.

Considering that he had occasionally entertained the thought of throttling his adopted father himself; the idea of someone being annoyed enough that they'd try to whack him wasn't _too_ shocking.

But more than that, Harry felt guilty. Incredibly so. He knew that the only reason why Naruto was here was because of him. Because of Harry. And his unexplainable powers. Naruto was risking his life for him.

"Don't worry kid," Naruto said, patting him on the shoulder. "Just keep on your toes and keep one eye on our exit route. If things do get hairy, don't worry about me. Just get out and escape."

Harry grimaced as he continued to glance around the Throne Room. His careful survey showed that the only entrance and exit to the enormous hall were the gigantic set of double doors they had just come through. There were no windows nor other access points.

He spotted Goliath standing near the Throne; an ornate golden monstrosity that looked both uncomfortable and very cold to sit on. Harry would have gladly traded it for a squishy armchair any day of the week. Said throne was adorned with a number of precious gems, all blood red rubies.

Goliath's unidentified female companion lurked nearby, glaring at anyone who came near. It was a wonder how she walked around with that gigantic chip on her shoulder.

Then there was a loud reverberating bong. Everyone shut up and turned to the dais.

Harry wondered what was going to happen.

Then there was another bong.

And the entire chamber turned pitch black.

Not even the illumination from the candles and torches could penetrate the absolute darkness. Then as quickly as the darkness had appeared, it vanished; allowing the light to return. Harry watched as all of the shadows seemed to snake towards the throne with blinding speed until they merged together, forming a dark void which pulsed with black lightning for a moment when out of it emerged a slender arm connected to a shoulder and then a head of long ebony hair appeared followed by a stunningly endowed chest and long legs.

Goliath stepped up. "Her Imperial Highness, the Dark Empress, Lady of Shadows, the Blood Queen, Archduchess of the Nosferatu Clans, and Ruler of the Night Tribes!" he shouted. "Empress Natasha Romanova Vladivostok."

Finishing his string of introductions, Goliath immediately went down to one knee, bowing in token acknowledgment to the Queen of the Vampires. At once, the rest of the crowd of creatures and weird entities did the same in a rather neat show of synchronicity.

Embarrassed, Harry hastily followed suit, feeling horribly gauche. It was only after he was kneeling that he belatedly realized that only Naruto was still standing erect and apparently studying a tapestry that contained a pictorial scene of a group of medieval knights fighting a bat-winged creature who had impaled a knight with a gigantic spear.

Harry winced and was reaching out to tug on Naruto's pants leg when a pair of glowing blood red sclera swept over the crowd and paused momentarily at Naruto and the gaping Harry.

Queen Natasha then seated herself onto her throne, ignoring Naruto.

Harry let out a covert sigh of relief and instead subtly studied her. He had to admit that he was extremely curious about vampires, having never seen one before in person and the Vampire Queen in particular. He wondered just what the Elder Shinobi had done that she threatened him with _'something anatomically impossible'_. A vague but rather intriguing threat in itself.

The incident was something else that Harry hoped to get Naruto to explain in detail sometime. Like say not in the Throne Room of the Queen of the Vampires. Or perhaps not on the same continent even.

"Welcome to the Dark Fortress, Demon Lord Naruto Namikaze," the Queen intoned solemnly in a foreign accent that Harry didn't recognize. Then she snapped her fingers.

There was a loud boom as the huge double doors slammed shut and metal screeched as heavy bolts were thrown and a giant locking bar crashed into place and cutting them off from their only escape route.

She smirked and Harry gulped as he noticed that her large canines seemed to be very sharp and pointy too. "I've been wanting to … discuss things with you for a while. You left so very ... _quickly_ the last time."

Naruto pursed his lips as he looked down at Harry. "You know, she might actually remember that little tiny insignificant incident after all."

Harry deadpanned, "You think?"

* * *

**A/N:** For those of you wondering, Tim Hunter is an actual character from the _Vertigo_ series _"The Books of Magic"_ and is a English teenager who discovers that he is in fact, a very powerful magician with a number of individuals who want him dead. He also bears quite a physical similarity to Harry Potter himself; black hair, glasses, and his favorite pet is an owl. However, Tim predates Harry by quite a few years. I just stuck him in for my own amusement, he won't have anything to do with the story at all.

Vexis is an Original Character or OC. I haven't really based him on anyone in particular. I think of him as a Ghost Knight; if there is such a thing. He is a former knight who was so evil and corrupt that when he died, his spirit continues to haunt his cursed armor that is pitch black due to the evil he had committed in life and is stained with the blood of those he has slain. He is an immoral assassin and has existed in his ghostly state for several centuries, long enough to encounter Naruto on several occasions. I got his name from the word "Vex" which means: _to bring trouble, distress or agitation to; to irritate or annoy by petty provocations._ Which I think sums up his character perfectly.

Goliath, as I mentioned before, belongs to Disney as does his as yet unnamed female companion. I'm toying with naming her Demona but I thought that some of the Night Tribes might find it insulting, so I'm leaning towards Delilah.


	6. The Mystery Revealed

**Preface:** I've been getting quite a few comments over my revamping Konoha's Genin Test and how they needed to know 50 jutsus to pass. I'm going to stand by that as frankly they seem to consider just about any kind of ninja art as being a jutsu; even that "Rope Escape Technique" or "Camouflage Blanket" and not even considering taijutsu moves or throws count as a kind of jutsu. I'm not saying that they should be able to cast 50 different kinds of elemental attacks but I think it's not unbelievable that a Genin would have a repertoire of basic combat skills to be able to operate in the field.

* * *

Naruto flung up his forearm to deflect the punch and grimaced at the impact which caused his radius bone to shatter and his ulna crack. He was too used to being stronger than any normal human that he had forgotten the sheer physical strength that Natasha wielded was even greater than his own. He used the power of her punch to boost his leap backwards out of her range and flooded his arm with his chakra to boost the healing.

Natasha snarled and flung her own arm forward and a limb of shadows formed and elongated, sharpened claws streaking out to impale him. The former Hokage cartwheeled away, evading the deadly strikes as he let his healing factor finish it's work on his arm. Then suddenly he seized the claws with his fixed arm and gave it a fast and hard pull, yanking Natasha off her feet and causing her to fly towards him. He drove a powerful punch into her midsection, causing the Queen of the Vampires to double up, spitting up a globule of blood. He continued to hammer her with elbow strikes and backfists.

Natasha might have the slight edge over him on pure strength, but he was pretty sure that he was faster and better at hand to hand. Natasha reared back and suddenly spun out with a roundhouse kick that he barely saw out of the corner of his eye. The impact smashed into his ribs, sending him flying to crash into the hard ground over a dozen feet away.

Of course, that margin was a lot thinner than he would have liked.

Naruto rolled to his feet even as he pressed a hand towards his ribcage, assessing the damage. As Natasha hadn't followed up that assault, he judged that she needed a moment to recover as well. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure that her healing factor was even faster than his.

Instinct warned him to bend backwards suddenly. Lucky thing too because a shadow scythe-like blade almost decapitated him. Naruto flipped himself back upright and fanned out his left hand, producing a brace of kunai that he flung out, causing Natasha to dodge the blades.

However it was just a distraction as Naruto tucked his right hand behind his back and gathered his chakra to form a rapidly rotating sphere. The sphere began emitting a high pitched earsplitting bell-like screech as Naruto reared back as the elongated blades of the mini-Rasenshuriken was formed and extended outward.

With a foxy grin, Naruto sent the deadly projectile hurtling out to impact a surprised Natasha. The spheroid exploded, creating thousands of shredding wind blades. They tore through a screaming Natasha—leaving nothing behind but nothing but small fragments.

Naruto blinked, vaguely surprised at how easily that had—he pricked his ears as he heard chanting.

"_Howl your fury, Lord of the North Winds!  
Great Storm that blows across Eternity,"_

His head snapped upward to see the Queen of the Vampires alive and intact floated in midair with a pair of large bat-like wings lazily flapping. She had her hand stretched out and was busy doing a spell invocation. _Aw hell—she must have used a Shadow Puppet! _Naruto realized that he had just been suckered by one of his favorite techniques. Or rather Natasha's version of it.

"_Shaker of the Great Tree at World's End,  
Heed unto me, Tempest!  
Gather in my hand and scour my foe from the Earth!" _

A spinning vortex of black air formed in her palm and then began doubling in size and speed, until she was holding a gigantic spinning whirlwind. She snapped her arm down, hurling the spinning vortex at Naruto Uzumaki and finished her chant with a roar. _"DARK WIND!"_

With a mighty roar, the impossibly inverted spinning tornado came crashing down.

Harry watched with awe as his adopted father flashed through eight handseals and then stomped his foot down hard on the ground. "DOTON! Womb of the Green Mother!"

Instantly, stone erupted upward and flowed together to create a large dome that shielded the former Hokage from Natasha's attack.

It was already impressive that Naruto needed so few hand signs to accomplish that technique that would have required seventeen seals, but it was practically unheard of to use one's other limbs as the foci. Normally ninjas channeled their attacks through their hands as it has the highest concentration of tenketsu points or through the mouth as it was practically a direct conduit to one's chakra coils.

The rocky shield held briefly as the wind blasted at it and despite the durability of the earth, the winds proved stronger. Within a matter of moments, they had tore away huge chunks of the dome and leaving behind … nothing.

Natasha glanced up to see a rapidly descending Naruto with a kunai in hand and aimed at her spine. Instantly, her bat-like wings shifted in shape, becoming a mass of razor sharp tentacles that shot up to impale Naruto who instantly poofed into a cloud of smoke.

In response, Natasha's entire form turned black and she literally melted into a shadow portal, narrowly evading a trio of screaming arc-like vacuum blades of wind chakra that would have chopped her into three separate pieces.

Back on the ground, Naruto tsked and snapped his fingers. "Darn. Missed."

He suddenly leapt upward, just in time to avoid getting skewered straight through his crotch by a gigantic shadow-blade that had erupted from beneath his feet. **"HEY!" **he squawked, pale and sweat dropping at the near castration.

Natasha chuckled darkly as she emerged from a shadow portal some distance away. She began chanting once more; causing blue flames to erupt from her fingertips and dancing on her arms and in the air around them.

"_Lord of Destruction! I summon thee!  
Great Hades who rules Tartarus, Lend me your fiery rage,  
Seethe and surge, Boil and burn, Turn all of Creation to ash!  
Bring forth your incandescent judgment!  
BURNING RUINATION!"_

Naruto blinked the ground itself started rumbling and shaking and the temperature jumped upward until the air itself started to sizzle and the earth began to bubble and smoke. He abruptly found himself standing at ground zero of a volcano that spat a column of blue fire several hundreds of feet up into the air.

Naruto came crashing down onto an empty patch of earth. "HOT! HOT! HOT!" he cursed as he swatted at some of his clothing that was still alight. Natasha spun in place and launched a series of shadowy dart-like arrows with a wave of her hand. They shrieked through the air, curving around several obstacles before they crashed into a still swearing Naruto who toppled over. A split second later, there was a poof of smoke and a badly perforated log.

A pair of hands suddenly punched through the ground and seized Natasha's ankles. "DOTON! Excavation Graveyard!" Naruto roared as he pulled her into the earth completely.

For a moment, the entire battlefield was silent. Then there came a rumbling and the earth exploded outward in a wave of black energy, forming a mushroom-like cloud.

Harry flinched at the tremendous explosion, he heard pebbles rattling as they came showering down. Several of them even pattering on his head.

At first glance, anyone would assume that Naruto and Natasha were trying to kill each other. However Harry couldn't rid himself of the thought that this was their version of flirting.

He further wondered if he was actually far enough away to be safe from all of this even as he flashed back to how this whole thing started…

* * *

**Harry Uzumaki & the 9-Tailed Fox**

Chapter 5: _The Mystery Revealed_

* * *

Harry Uzumaki tried not to fidget. It was difficult as he sitting next to his adopted father who was sitting right across from the Queen of the Vampires. Frankly, he would have just as accepted her offer to find suitable quarters for Naruto's pet human while they discussed things in private.

Even if he did find that "pet" crack downright insulting.

A glance into her eyes quickly dismissed any idea of a withering retort though. The fact that she was totally lacking pupils was a trifle disturbing, but the fact that the entire sclera (that were supposed to be white!) were instead pulsating with a glowing reddish hue turned that disturbing factor and ratcheted it up right into frightening and an aversion to avoid looking at them.

Naruto had bluntly told her that Harry would be staying here with them. He saw Natasha's eyes narrow momentarily as well as a checked snarl, but she had smoothly accepted it. Like any Royalty or five-year old, Natasha clearly did not care to have her wishes flatly disobeyed.

He knew why Naruto had rudely turned down the offer though; he didn't trust them and wanted Harry to be in his line-of-sight and theoretically under his protection. But sitting right next to Naruto, he couldn't help but feel like he was right in the middle of a bull's eye.

Or rather … sitting right next to one. He also got the feeling that Natasha wasn't the sort to be bothered too much by collateral damage.

The whole meeting insanely enough, brought to Harry's mind of these tea parties hosted by Aunt Petunia. Inflexibly formal, icy manners, guarded conversation, and a preplanned event program that everyone rigidly adhered to.

_**Or else. **_

Of course, Natasha brought all new meaning to the _"or else"_ threat that Aunt Petunia could only dream of.

Serving in Harry's previous role of fetcher, waiter, and toady were a group of … _things_ that resembled small children toys. Demented children.

They were small, dumpy, pot bellied, and furry animal-like creatures that might have even been cute—were they not so battered looking and have dozens of crude stitching attaching mismatched body parts.

He had absently thanked one for giving him a cup and received an inhumanly large smile that split open half of the creature's face as well; revealing several rows of incredibly sharp gleaming metal teeth that sharks would have envied … and the only perfectly immaculate part of the thing's anatomy.

All in all, instead of cute; the stitched dolls were incredibly creepy and looked like Toys from Hell that had been marked down and bought on sale.

Taking a closer look at the various dolls, he noticed that all of them were armed in some fashion. Literally. They either bore serrated blades for claws and/or knife-like teeth. Or both. Harry was forcibly reminded of Naruto's stories of ninja puppets and wondered if those pudgy bodies concealed hidden weapons and lethal gadgetry inside of them.

The puppet master was the strange creature lurking behind Natasha as her personal servant. She, (it appeared to be a human female) was clearly in command, nudging and ordering the smaller ones around. Like her charges, she too seemed to be composed mainly of poor stitching.

However, Harry couldn't help but suspect that like the small dolls, her body parts weren't entirely original and happened to be harvested from human corpses (or so he hoped; he really, _really_ didn't want to think she might have acquired them from still living bodies). And there were bits and pieces of her that were clearly mechanical. Natasha had airily introduced her as Ms. Stein.

"So you're not holding a grudge over that … uh … thing?" Naruto inquired cautiously.

Natasha smirked and drained her wineglass. "What that? Oh, of course not. Don't be silly. I just wanted to see you sweat a little bit."

Harry got a meaningful elbow jab and a wink from Naruto as if to say: _See? What did I tell you._

Ms. Stein leaned closer and began to refill Natasha's glass. Harry frowned as the red liquid spilled from the crystalline decanter. There was an odd smell to it—it took him a second to remember that his hostess was a vampire which meant that it _**wasn't**_ red wine that she was drinking like he had automatically assumed. His stomach did a fast dip and slow spin to the left.

Natasha noticed Harry's focus on her drink and her smile turned even wider, showing her prominent canines. "Oh, my apologies. Did you want some … stronger refreshment?" she inquired politely even as Ms. Stein presented the decanter for inspection. As if to confirm Harry's suspicions instead of a wine label, the bottle was typed AB Negative.

"I'm good." Harry squeaked, vowing to only use his own personal rations that he had packed while here. God only knew what some of these … creatures ate and drank. _Did they have a Monster Version of the 4 Major Food Groups? That's right Timmy, if you don't finish your freshly squeezed bug saliva, you don't get your human flesh dessert… _

Natasha gave an amused chuckle. "Oh, your pet is so adorable! I simply must get one of my very own!" she remarked lightly.

Harry never thought he'd miss Uncle Vernon but he suddenly found being contemptuously yelled as 'Boy!' was actually far more tolerable than being condescendingly referred to as 'Pet'.

Naruto's hand clamped down on Harry's shoulder. "He's not my 'pet' Tasha. He's my adopted son and apprentice."

Natasha leaned back in her chair and tittered. "Oh really! Namikaze, you always are so amusing! Adopting a human!"

Naruto correctly tightly. "Uzumaki."

Natasha chuffed. "Still holding a grudge against your father are we?" she remarked blandly.

"What can I say? I'm only human," Naruto remarked with a pair of spread hands and a razor sharp smirk.

Natasha merely raised an elegant eyebrow. "You are no more human than I am Naruto. Even though your adopted son is descended from the wizard sect, he will probably not live more than a century and a half."

Both Naruto and Harry blinked and exchanged puzzled looks. "What's a wizard?" they asked virtually simultaneously.

* * *

_An entire race of magic wielders. Hidden away._ Harry shook his head. He should really be more shocked at this but considering his life and what he had encountered so far, it was not the most unbelievable thing that he ever heard of. He was considering how more ridiculous his life could become.

Of course, the most cliché crap would be if he was actually some sort of prophesized champion destined to defeat some sort of ultimate evil. _Wait—that sounded an awful lot like what his father had to go through as a teenager. Hmmm, it would be awfully cool if I get some sort of magic sword like King Arthur. _

Maybe he should ask Naruto for some training in kenjutsu. Just in case.

He frowned as he saw Natasha prepping some new sort of spell. For all her claims that this was a "friendly little spar", he got the feeling that the Queen of the Vampires was still holding a bit of a grudge.

Either that or all of the women that Naruto knew were all incredibly violent…

* * *

"_The Wheel Revolves, Everlasting Night hear my plea,  
Darkness beyond Blackest Pitch,  
Darkness of the Deepest Abyss,  
A Hush Profound, of Eternal Silence…"_

Naruto paled as he heard the chanting and recognized that particular spell. "Uh Natasha… I think this is going a bit too far…" as he saw black flames ignite around her form.

"_O Crooked One, heed my summons,  
The Sands of Time spin back,  
The Hourglass Reverses, The Wheel Revolves…"_

"OK, I give! Natasha! You win! OK? _**Natasha?**__"_

The flames had become black lightning dancing, crackling, sparking as they skittered around and began to solidify.

Several miles away, Harry Uzumaki felt the awesome energies being gathered and decided to follow that itching feeling in the back of his spine and practiced an ancient ninja art called "The Awaiting Turtle in Repose".

Someone of more modern parlance would simply call it Put Your Head Between Your Legs and Kiss Your Ass Goodbye.

"_Khaos cast open yon Eye,  
Bring forth Darkness from Beyond Darkness,  
Shadow Beyond Shadow,  
Night Beyond the Deepest Black,  
From the Furthest Chasm, I CALL UPON THEE!"_

Natasha held open the palm of her hand in supplication as the blackness began to swirl and congeal in her palm, creating a small pocket of … inky nothingness.

Then everything seemed to pause. The rushing air seemed to falter, the sounds of raging battle stilled, even the heaving earth quieted for a moment.

And in that moment of absolute quiet stillness and silence, Naruto could hear Natasha whisper… _**"Eternal Twilight."**_

Naruto winced as he saw the sphere of darkness erupt outward. His eyes closed into slits as he stroked his chin sagely, "Oh yeah, she's still holding a bit of a grudge," he muttered as it raced to claim him.

And the entire world turned black.

* * *

**A/N:** For those of you wondering, yes Natasha is a spellcaster. Her style of magic however is different from those utilized by the wizards and witches in Harry Potter's universe. About the best I can think of is that her style resembles that of the _Slayers!_ or maybe from the _Negima!_ manga.

From what I've seen in HP, for the most part wizards and witches channel their own internal magical energies from their "cores" to power to their spells. Natasha however, employs external sources to power her battle spells. If you paid attention, every spell she uses refers to an external patron or god or whatever; Lord of the North Winds, Hades, Chaos, etc. For those of you of a mythological bent, the 'O Crooked One' is a nickname for Kronos, the God of Time who also happens to be the Father of Zeus.

It gives Natasha the advantage that she can cast continuously and use complex and powerful spells with the expenditure of very little "energy"; and she does not need a wand or other medium to focus them. The disadvantage is the fact that she has to verbally perform the spell chant for these spells and she has to remain relatively motionless which is the primary reason why her tactics revolve around her casting her spells at medium to long range.

I'm also sure that some people are going to jump all over me as to why vampires are so powerful when they seem to be a small, insignificant race in HP canon. Well, they're not. In my universe; the vampires who interact with wizards are Dhampirs—half human and half vampire.

Natasha on the other hand is a Pureblood Vampire and she is the most powerful of them all. I think of her as roughly being equivalent of a Kage-level Ninja. And before anyone else starts arguing against that; I personally think that Voldemort and Dumbledore both falling into around that same level power-wise.

In comparison, the really powerful wizards would rank around Jonin while above-average wizards would class around Chunin with the general Wizarding populace would fall in the Genin class.

It's just a rough classification; because I think that Wizards (even Voldemort and Dumbledore) are best in one-on-one combat with them spellcasting fast 'n furious at each other in a duel and they rarely engage in close quarters combat.

Ninjas on the other hand do not fight duels and they can break out bigger, army-killing, wide area affect jutsus, not to mention they resort to hand-to-hand combat and grappling which I think Wizards would view as "uncivilized brawling".

Most vampires, even pureblood vampires on the other hand—are only dangerous at close range; where they can get their hands or teeth on you. Sure, they're stronger and faster than a regular human—but they need to close that gap first and I think that with minimal warning, even a weak Wizard can hold them off with the basic Lumos. So don't be thinking that I think of vampires as being born as demigods or something like that. Natasha has spent centuries practicing and honing her spellcasting skills—but before anyone of you start whining about how can she kick Naruto's ass so easily—Naruto is several times stronger than a Kage and his human form is a kind of "limiter" on his power levels. Natasha is just able to push him to his limits in his human form, so I hope that explains things.


End file.
